Sr Manager, Cybersecurity

Workday•Pleasanton, CA

1d•$182,400 - $324,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Workday is continuing to invest in a world-class cybersecurity incident response program that strengthens customer confidence in our platform. Our team is building the Security Center of the future by advancing core response capabilities across incident response, digital forensics, threat hunting, security automation, and AI-driven security operations. We operate as a highly visible global security function, partnering closely across key Workday teams to detect, investigate, contain, and learn from cybersecurity events. The environment is rigorous, high-performing, and deeply collaborative, with a strong focus on continuous development, operational excellence, and building modern response capabilities at scale. Workday is looking for a senior technical leader with deep expertise in security incident response and a strong engineering mindset. This role is central to leading and maturing a highly visible response function that is engaged in major cybersecurity events and helps strengthen trust and resilience across Workday. The right candidate will bring advanced technical leadership across incident response, security automation, systems and network security, threat hunting, digital forensics, and modern AI-enabled security capabilities. Most importantly, this person will be a proven leader in building and scaling incident response programs, leading teams through complex security events, and driving operational maturity across people, process, and technology. This role requires someone who can go deep technically, lead with credibility, and influence broadly across the business. You will be expected to understand Workday’s internal architecture, operate effectively across a multi-cloud enterprise environment, and apply strong judgment in high-pressure situations.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in cybersecurity or information security roles.
3+ years of experience leading and developing security teams.
Bachelor’s degree.
Strong technical leadership presence with the ability to set direction, build credibility, and motivate high-performing teams.
Deep expertise in security incident response, with demonstrated experience leading or significantly contributing to complex investigations and major security events.
Strong engineering mindset with experience improving security operations through automation, orchestration, and scalable technical solutions.
Pragmatic approach to security, balancing risk reduction with business enablement.
Structured problem-solving, sound judgment, and effective decision-making in fast-paced environments.
Proven track record of delivering security improvements in complex, fast-paced environments.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence and build trust across technical and non-technical teams.
Proven ability to communicate and influence at senior leadership levels, including presenting to directors, VPs, and/or C-level stakeholders.
Ability to drive multiple projects and priorities while managing operational responsibilities.
Experience collaborating across global or distributed teams.
Demonstrated success in designing, implementing, and maturing security programs at scale in complex, fast-moving environments (e.g., cloud-native, SaaS, large enterprise).
Hands-on or leadership experience in one or more of the following areas: Security operations (SOC), Incident Response and forensics, Cloud security (AWS/Azure/GCP), Security Automation & Orchestration, Designing and implementing security solutions, Designing and implementing Agentic AI security solutions, Application / product security and secure development practices.

Responsibilities

Oversee day-to-day security operations within the Security Incident Response team.
Lead, coach, and develop a team of cybersecurity engineers, including performance management, career development, and mentoring.
Set clear goals, priorities, and KPIs for the team aligned to the security and business strategy.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Track and report security metrics, risk indicators, and program maturity to senior leadership.
Champion the security mindset across every aspect of the company.
Advise senior leadership in cybersecurity matters.
Contribute to the program vision and implementation of a world class Response program at Workday.
Architect and evolve a Response platform that enables Cyber Defense to operate with precision, automation and innovation.
Build automation solutions around open-source and proprietary tools.
Evaluate new tools and techniques to create innovative and practical security solutions.
Partner with risk, legal, and compliance teams to identify, assess, and manage security risks for new and existing initiatives.
Prioritize and drive remediation of security findings across infrastructure, applications, and processes.
Lead or coordinate response to security incidents, including triage, containment, investigation, and post-incident reviews.